REVEALED: Harrogate’s best and worst hygiene scores

Ruby Kitchen

An extensive Harrogate Advertiser series investigation can today reveal the full scale of the food hygiene scores for the whole of the district.

The exhaustive analysis scours every score for 1,600 eateries from Harrogate to Ripon, Knaresborough and Nidderdale, as judged and published by Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) inspectors.

This unprecedented investigation, which for the first time brings together every eatery in the Harrogate district under one interactive map on our website, lays bare the full breadth of food businesses in the region.

Scroll down below to search the scores for every eatery, or click on the link below to view the interactive map.

Revealing the latest scores for pubs, clubs, restaurants, schools, healthcare facilities and more, it details the best - and worst - hygiene ratings for every single sector.

“This is hugely important,” said Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) cabinet member for community safety, Margaret Atkinson. “These scores keep the standards up for public health. It’s good that they are brought to the public’s attention.”

The Harrogate Advertiser investigation, teaming up with the Open University, uses HBC inspectors’ latest ratings, as published to the Government database for the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

These scores, on a scale of zero to five, are based on how hygienically food is handled, the condition of the building, and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.

It shows that of the 1,600 food businesses in the district, a staggering 77 per cent have been awarded the very top grade - a five star rating. That figure is a full 19 per centage points higher than the national - and the Yorkshire average of 58.1 per cent - demonstrating the strength of the district’s hospitality sector.

But it also reveals that there are a total of 26 eateries, including restaurants, schools, pubs, cafes and takeaways, with a hygiene rating of two star or less - meaning “improvement is necessary”.

“The Harrogate district is a wonderful place to work, live and play,” said Coun Atkinson. We do have a vast amount of businesses with a five star - they should be congratulated.

“We are one of the best in the entire country. We work very hard to keep it that way.”

Ratings are based on three criteria:

l how hygienically the food is handled - how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.

l the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities.

l how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.

The information published here is from the Food Standards Agency website - www.ratings.gov.uk - as of Friday, March 13, 2015.

The site is updated regularly but there is a two-week delay between inspection and publication, to allow businesses to appeal.

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE INSPECTORS

“We are here to protect the public. In the worst case scenario, people die.”

The food hygiene scores for the district are investigated by a team of inspectors operating across the Harrogate borough.

Their job, as well as to examine licences for pubs, clubs, adult clubs and taxis, is to check the standards of all food businesses.

These can be restaurants, hotels, hospitals, care homes, takeaways or even a corner shop, pre-school or pub.

And, with the safety of tens of thousands of people in their hands, they have a hugely responsible role.

“If you look at the extreme, people die,” said Gareth Bentley, food, licensing and occupational safety manager for the district.

“The worst thing we face is E-coli, which can lead to kidney failure in children. Its effects are devastating. But, with the right systems in place, it’s avoidable.”

The team, equivalent to five full time employees, is responsible for 2,200 businesses including 1,600 food retailers between Harrogate and Knaresborough, Ripon and Nidderdale.

They carry out inspections, spot checks and shopping basket surveys, as well as investigate complaints and reports of food poisoning.

And while they face some criticism for publishing scores, it is a vital system.

“It isn’t difficult to get a grade four,” said Mr Bentley. “A three, in the eyes of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), is compliant. And more people are paying attention - even companies like Groupon are now more aware of these standards.

“Outdoor festivals, places like the Great Yorkshire Show, will all have their own minimum standards.”

If a company in the Harrogate district is given a poor grading, they are offered help to turn it around, with the team even employing interpreters on some food hygiene courses run with colleges.

“You don’t need a fancy kitchen to produce safe food,” said Dave Gough, one of the inspectors for the team.

“Our aim is to get everybody compliant - and the opportunity is there to improve. They will always be left with a detailed list of what they need to do.

“After 12 weeks we can revisit and we can re-assess. It’s a system aimed at driving standards up all the time.”

The latest scores are always published two weeks after the inspection - that’s to give companies time to appeal and is for their own benefit.

And every investigation across the country is exactly the same. Every food business is assessed on key factors, including food hygiene and safety, structure, and confidence in control systems. These pointers aren’t given equal weighting - and can mean that some businesses, although seemingly spotless, may lose points because they don’t have the right paperwork in place.

“They have to have a documented food safety system to explain in detail how they do things, with controls in place to make sure that it is safe,” said Mr Bentley.

“That documentation is paramount. We are assessing real world risks - nobody has died from a cracked tile on a floor. They have from contaminated raw meat.”

Some businesses are inspected every six months. Others, only once every three years. But this, say the team, is because they try to leave those businesses who do well alone.

“The better the score the longer the time between inspections,” said Mr Bentley. “But if they’re really bad, they’ll get a visit every six months or even more often.

“The whole point of our inspection regime is to try and leave the good ones alone to get on with what they’re doing.”

And while the team is employed by HBC, they contribute to the FSA’s national data base, along with every other local authority in the country, so the scores are widely available.

“This is one of the best things that has ever been introduced to food hygiene,” said Mr Bentley.

“It gives businesses the inclination to move up. They want to avoid the stigma.”

BAN FOR HARROGATE HOTEL BOSS AFTER BREACHING HYGIENE LAW

A hotelier from Harrogate was banned from running a restaurant last July after she was convicted of breaching food hygiene rules.

Yoko Banks, owner of the Ashley House Hotel on Franklin Road and The Ruskin on Swan Road, was found guilty of six food hygiene offences by magistrates in Harrogate last year.

She had denied the charges but was found guilty after a trial where the extent of her offences was laid bare.

Inspectors had found filthy kitchens, the court was told, with dirt-lined floors and walls, fridges and sinks, and soiled linen piled near food preparation areas.

“It was clear it hadn’t been cleaned for some considerable time, ” said Dave Gough, environmental health inspector at Harrogate Borough Council (HBC).

Inspectors from HBC, who brought the prosecution, had visited the two premises in October 2013.

Despite giving Mrs Banks notice that council officers would be attending for another issue, they said, they found the hotels’ food preparation areas in an unacceptable state.

She was found guilty of six offences under the Food Hygiene Regulations and fined £1,000 for each offence.

She was also ordered to contribute £650 towards the council’s costs and a victim surcharge of £120, totalling £6,770.

The court also imposed a hygiene prohibition order preventing her from operating a food business anywhere in the country, although she can still run establishments on a bed-only basis.

Gareth Bentley, food, licensing and occupational safety manager for Harrogate Borough Council (HBC), said this week that such prosecutions are rare.

“As in all walks of life, you will get people who just shouldn’t be food operators,” he said.

“Yoko Banks repeatedly performed badly. That’s why she ended up before the courts.

“Allowing a dog access to the kitchen, allowing easy access to pests, poor storage of waste. Her food safety management systems were no-existent. Cleanliness was poor.

“She had a history of repeatedly poor compliance, backed up with numerous complaints.

If you get that far, you’re doing pretty badly. You’ve turned down an awful lot of help.”

HOW DOES HARROGATE DISTRICT COMPARE?

An impressive 77 per cent of Harrogate’s food businesses have been awarded the top score possible - a grade 5 rating.

That figure eclipses the national - and regional - average of 58.1 per cent, validating the strength and standards of the district’s eateries.

“We work very hard with our businesses,” said Gareth Bentley, food, licensing and occupational safety manager for Harrogate Borough Council (HBC).

“We are a very good district. For the most part, our operators are good guys.

“You will tend to find a lot of four or five stickers displayed on doors and windows. You won’t see a lot of twos or threes. That’s because it’s not mandatory to display them.”

The investigation revealed that 96 per cent of hospitals, childcare and caring facilities in the district received the top grade.

And 93 per cent of schools and colleges hold the top five-star ratings.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “We are of course very pleased that such a large proportion of our schools have received the highest level grading for food hygiene.

“In the very few instances where problems are identified, we take immediate steps to carry out remedial action.”

Some of the top rating businesses in the district including Ramus Seafood, Harrogate Brasserie, Ripon Grammar School, The Mitre Inn in Knaresborough, Weatherheads and Kendalls butchers in Pateley, along with High Street Fisheries. All score a high five.

“We are doing really well in comparison to the rest of the country,” said HBC inspector Dave Gough, whose job it is to carry out the reports.

“The businesses in Harrogate are taking it on board.”

As of Friday, March 13, there were 85 businesses in the Harrogate borough given a three-star grade, meaning “generally satisfactory”.

There were no zeros, or grade ones in Harrogate town, with 200 given a “good” four-star grade and the overwhelming majority - 1,083 - awarded the top score of five.

However, the latest data shows that 26 businesses were graded a two, meaning “improvement needed.”

Prior to publication, The Harrogate Advertiser series made every effort to contact every single one, to offer them the right of explanation.

Some chose not to comment, others were unavailable. Many came back to us with a comment on their score.

- One business - Lotties and Ollies in Pateley Bridge - has undergone re-inspection since these scores were first published and was awarded a Grade 5 rating - the top score on March 26.

“We’re absolutely over the moon,” said owner Elizabeth Chandler. “It’s wonderful. We’ve put so much work into the shop itself, it’s a nice sign to say that all our hard work has paid off.”

GRADE 2 SCORES

l Bambino’s - 6 Kings Road, Harrogate. Rated 2 on 20-Mar-2014.

“We’ve only just taken over the business in January, and we are working with the council to improve the score. We’ve joined a scheme where they can show us what needs to be done. We are in the process of starting over with everything.”

Lydia Kendrew, from the company said it had lost marks on its paperwork systems, and had made moves in the weeks since the inspection to improve. It had a new staff on board, and had approached Harrogate College, booking on to refresher courses to improve their score. It is now to ask Harrogate Borough Council to revisit, as it believes its score will have improved.

l Black Swan - Fearby. Rated 2 on 14-May-2014.

Owner Sean McCourt said their score was down to not filling in the paperwork correctly. He had been battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy at the time, he said, and had fallen behind with the paperwork. Staff are now completing training courses as a result of this grading, to ensure they can bring it back up to their previous 4.

“We’ve had builders in changing quite a bit,” said the owners. “We are changing a lot of things, it’s going to be very different from before. We’ve had new fans in, cleaners, painters. We’ve done lots of things to make that score better.”

The owner said staff have just completed a Food Hygiene Course through the council a fortnight ago and are hoping for a new rating soon.

l Mamboge Food Experience - Rated 2 on 17-Nov-2014.

l Masala Takeaway - Ripon Road, Harrogate. Rated 2 on 10-Sep-2014.

Owner Anwar Ali said: “Big changes have been made, and we’ve applied for a revisit. We’ve had the whole place done up. We didn’t want that rating, we were very unhappy to get it. I was away from the business for a little while, and what’s happened has happened. But we’re one of the busiest in Harrogate, we’ve never had any issues, and we’re immaculate. We’ve changed all the lighting and the decor, we’ve redone the floor, got all the certificates, and we think they will be happy with us now. We are just waiting for another inspection.”

“Since then we have put a number of measures in place, including the appointment of a new store manager, and have seen significant improvements,” said a spokesman. “We are confident in the results of our efforts and look forward to a revisit to demonstrate this.”

“We are reliant on grants and fundraising, and are working extremely hard,” said staff. “We’re organising a gala for June to raise money. We’ve gone through a lot of changes since we were inspected last year. This is something we are focusing on to change in the next few months, to get that rating back up to a five.”

l Pizzaficio - 152 Kings Road, Harrogate. Rated 2 on 13-Aug-2014.

l Poppodums - 65 Grantley Drive, Harrogate. Rated 2 on 31-Oct-2013.

l Roecliffe Primary School - Roecliffe. Rated 2 on 05-Sep-2014.

A county council spokesman said: “The reason for the rating was structural. It’s an old village school and the kitchen area wasn’t built for the number of pupils there. There are plans for extending the kitchen area, and we are anticipating that work will begin this summer.”

l The Bridge Inn - Low Wath Road, Pateley Bridge. Rated 2 on 11-Nov-2014. Owners said they were new to the business, having only taken over after the latest inspection. The inspectors were in last week, they said, and they are now hoping for a higher score.

l The Wellington Inn - Darley Carr, Darley. Rated 2 on 11-Feb-2015.

“We’ve always had a four star rating. We had a problem with our kitchen flooring which is why we were downgraded. We’ve rectified this and are waiting for re-inspection we can achieve our former rating.”

Owners said the current score was down to the poor structure of the old building, with exposed pipes and uneven walls. Since then, they said, they had completed an extensive refurbishment with £100,000 worth of new kitchens installed upstairs and downstairs, and £20,000 spent to accommodate new ovens. Walls have been over boarded, wipeable cladding fixed to the walls, new flooring, extractor fans and updated equipment. “The environmental team commented on her last visit that all our hygiene, food storage and working practices are all fine but needed to improve the structure of the kitchens,” they said. “She dropped us down from the ‘satisfactory’ score of 3 to the ‘needs improving’ score of 2 because the flooring was in need of replacement due to a rip. All the structural issues that have caused us to be marked low have been addressed in our refurbishment which is due to complete by the March 24 and we have no doubt that the improvements to the structure of the building will allow us to achieve 5 out of 5 for ’Scores on the doors’. The finishing touches are being made to our upstairs kitchen ready for re-opening of our upstairs this weekend. We would be happy for anyone to visit our kitchens as we are more than satisfied that hygiene and working practices are adhered to, as they always were, with the added bonus of new surfaces and updated equipment.”

l Wings - 75A Leeds Road, Harrogate. Rated 2 on 29-Jul-2014.

“That rating was not for us, it was given to the previous owners. We’ve taken over four weeks ago and we’ve changed everything. Our standards are as tight as possible.”